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Pure Diamond Gold

Only the choicest cuts of surf, bluegrass, spaghetti western spookiness, garage punk, country murder ballads, and gospel.

Full Description

This disc was stitched together, for your pleasure, for your amazement, using only the choicest cuts of surf, bluegrass, spaghetti western spookiness, garage punk, country murder ballads, and gospel. It is an unwieldy beast; it stumbles, it rocks, it croons, it swoons, it smokes, it swings, it knocks over drinks, it pushes sniveling, timorous townspeople out of the way with a single swipe of its mighty hand. It’s a good thing to have on your side.

The Sadies' second album plays like a Canadian version of the Ramones' Rocket to Russia. 20 songs in 40 minutes. Razor sharp and dragstrip fast fuzzed out bluegrass ("16 Mile Creek") followed by reverb spy-story surf ("Rat Creek"), and then things REALLY get warmed up. It's heavy on the short and fabulous soundscape instrumentals, but you like that. Or you should.

There’s also some pretty amazing special appearances from the Good Brothers, Canada’s most famous bluegrass outfit, well-known on the European festival circuit, and the family of the two tallest Sadies, Travis and Dallas; their Mom and their dog even make cameos. Catherine Irwin of Freakwater stops by sing on "Eastwinds," and
Kelly Hogan lends some swooping, Star Trek theme song type vocals as well (Hey Nerds, we're talkin' the ORIGINAL Trek...) on the hopped up space odyssey "Medicine Ball."

As with their first record, handling the engineering work was ubermensch Steve Albini.

CHOICE CUTS:

Rat Creek
It's Nothing to Me
Medicine Ball
Reward of Gold

Short Description

Dirty, damaged, raggedy and surreal, the Sadies' brand of country draws blades tempered in the flames of urban decay. Dark yet playful, like a handful of sleeping snakes, intriguing and sensuous in one of those dark-eyes-from-across-the-bar kind of ways.

— The Coast

Their dusty frontier soundtracks to westerns never made are as evocative as ever, but they’re actually quite revved up placed next to surf and jailhouse rock of guitarist Dallas Good.

— Exclaim

The songs veer madly between hyper-traditional country expressions, surf guitar homages and mutations of the two. This is another example of what is right about alternative country's hybridization.

— Country Standard Time

Pure Diamond Gold shines like the smile of an exuberant Western rascal, and it pulls no punches.